When I was young, everything was better. Or seemed better when looking back, at least. Sometimes I pick up an old video game, a Super Nintendo (snes) game for instance (from the last decade of the last century), and when playing it, it doesn't look as fabulous as I recall it did at all. Time did something with my memory, or perhaps my memory didn't progress the way the game industry did, I don't know.
With some things, however, it is a fact that they were better back in the days. This is true for Dutch Winters. We used to have real Winters here. With snow and ice! It was cold! You went out with your sled and only came back when your hands were almost frozen! And your mother made you some hot chocolate milk! And the ice-skating was so much fun, we used to live near a small stream, which didn't take too long to freeze over, so we were skating there most of the Winter.
But now, those Winters are gone. We have only two seasons now: Summer, and Fall, the latter stretches out over nine months or so. It rains, and is a boring kind of 'in-between weather'. Drowsy. Of course it is colder now than it is in October or April, but it isn't freezing. Or snowing. If it was up to me, I would move this entire country a few hundred miles to the north. That's where the Winter is!
The Dutch are also obsessed with the weather, by the way. If you walk into a random grocery store and say "How about that weather, eh?", you'll most likely be discussing the weather with fellow customers for at least half an hour. It's fun to do when you don't have anything better to do. Like ice-skating... sled-riding.... *sigh*.
Cats are known to be playful, of course, but my cat Storm seems obsessed with playing. And I suspect he is not the only cat with that 'problem'. He has a lot of toys, which are usually scattered across the living room, and he rarely manages to walk past them without touching them. His playfulness extends beyond his own possessions, he tends to see playing possibilities where I see simple household items and such. My pencils and erasers are not safe from him either, nor are my reading glasses (!). He loves to 'steal' things like that, and plays with them near the front door, preferably hiding them in my shoes after.
I sometimes test his compulsiveness by lining up various small objects (plastic lids from bottles, wine corks, matchboxes etc) near the edge of a table, to see if he can walk past them without pushing them off. He never can.
Of course it is that same (be it obsessive or not) playfulness which makes me love him, and all cats for that matter. So I take the occasional eraser in my shoe for granted :)
Now, I don't know what it is like where you live, but my neighbourhood sees a rather large increase in runners at the start of the new year. My house is situated next to a small road and bicycle-lane, which I can see from the room where I do my drawing. So I see many runners run by. They don't seem to care whether it's freezing or raining, they stick to their plan and run anyway. I admire them. I do some running myself, but never when it is too cold or too hot. And preferably when there is no rain and the sun is shining.
So that is roughly four times per year.
Until next week, and keep running if you are into that! I'll be cheering you on from behind my desk-at-the-window!
As the search for 'my comic' continues, I find myself stuck in these bandages for a bit longer. Don't worry, in real life I am not bandaged at all, but it's just that imagining someone going out on the streets while totally covered in bandages brought on a lot of funny ideas.
Now, as you remember from the previous episode, there was no plastic surgery involved at all, just a confused cat. Cosmetic surgery is a funny thing though, isn't it? I would feel silly having an upper lip that's so swollen it looks like it was stung by a bee, yet there's people who get that done intentionally! And just this week, I read about this 'real-life-soap-star' who stated the best way to avoid facial wrinkles was to not laugh at all! That's just crazy. Ah well. I do hope that doesn't keep you from laughing!
First of all:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
You are, of course, wondering what my new year resolutions are. Well. I promise to keep this comic strip updated as planned, and with that, I aim to bring a smile to your face every week :)
Speaking of which, here it is:
As you can see, sometimes it is better to stay as you are.
Wonder what I (or, the cartoon me) will look like next? You will find out next week!
